Prison officers’ ‘doubts’ over Mountjoy policy

THE Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has welcomed the “zero drugs policy” of the new governor of Mountjoy Prison, but said they had “serious doubts” it had made the prison safer.

A spokesman for the association said that only last Friday a prison officer – in the job for less than two months – received 21 stitches to his face after being slashed by an inmate wielding a makeshift blade.

The spokesman said that while the new net system installed over the main yards last month were welcome, the association had called for them at least six years ago.